The Effect of Presleep Focal Attention Load on Subsequent Sleep Patterns

The hypothesis that a load on focal attention prior to sleep results in subsequent changes in sleep patterns was investigated. Eight females and 2 males slept in the laboratory for 4 nights: 2 adaptation nights, 1 experimental night preceded by a focal attention load, and 1 control night preceded by relaxed activity. On the experimental night, time in bed, total sleep time, and stage REM sleep were significantly longer than on the control night. The results support the hypothesis and suggest that attention during REM sleep has a unique character.     

Sleep of chronic post-traumatic patients

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the sleep of people diagnosed as suffering from chronic Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). The sleep of seven chronic post-traumatic patients with no known physical injuries was compared with that of seven matched control subjects. The post-traumatic patients had poorer sleep: decreased sleep efficiency, increase in number of awakenings, and decreased SWS, as well as longer REM latency. It was also found that their complaints correlated with relevant sleep-monitored measures. The findings add further support for the inclusion of sleep difficulties in the definition of the Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.     

CHILDREN''S PERCEPTION OF DEATH IN HUMANS AND ANIMALS AS A FUNCTION OF AGE, ANXIETY AND COGNITIVE ABILITY

This study investigated the impact of age, cognitive level and anxiety level on children's conception of death in humans and animals. Children from three age groups (6-7; 8-9; 10-11) were divided into high and low anxiety levels and high and low cognitive abilities. Then, the children were administered two questionnaires on human and animal death. The findings show that there was a main effect of age, anxiety and cognition on the conception of both animal and human death. Human death scores were higher than animal death scores. The interactions indicate that anxiety has a stronger impact on cognitively high subjects than on cognitively low subjects and that cognition affects the animal death concept more than the human death concept.     

REM Deprivation and Divergent Thinking

The contribution of REM sleep to divergent thinking was examined. Ten subjects were deprived of REM sleep and of equal length of NREM sleep. In both cases a divergent thinking task was assigned in the evening to be performed in the morning. The subjects' responses after NREM deprivation were numerically greater, included more positive reactions, and were more divergent and original than those produced after REM deprivation. The study thus reconfirms the hypothesis that REM sleep contributes to divergent thinking and supports the claim that it encourages the individual's adaptation to new situations.